1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates mainly to a game apparatus, method, storing medium and transmitting medium for predicting results of a sports game (sports contest) in parallel with the progress of an actual sports game.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been various video games featuring sports. One of these video games is the type in which a video game player participates in a sports game acting as a very player of the sport. For example, in a baseball game, one of two video game players acts as a pitcher and the other video game player acts as a batter and both operate controllers with skilled techniques to pitch and hit a ball with good timing. Some video games in this category are arranged to produce different results by adding historical data of performances of actual professional baseball players. In addition, as a video game utilizing more data, there is a simulation game for developing sports teams. For example, in a video game simulating professional baseball, video game players make contracts with baseball player characters with the actual names and abilities of professional baseball players within a limit of a predetermined budget, build professional baseball teams with their favorite baseball players by trading baseball players with each other and make the teams compete for the pennant. Data of each actual baseball player are utilized in the pennant race simulation, and victory or defeat is determined.
However, there have been no video games that can proceed in parallel with the progress of a sports game that is actually being performed. In a sports game such as baseball in which plays are intermittent, there is a considerable interval between the time when a pitcher receives a ball from a catcher and the time when the pitcher throws the ball to a batter after deciding a course and a type of pitching (where and how to throw the pitch). It is great fun for spectators in a baseball stadium or viewers of a baseball program brought by a television broadcast to imagine and predict what type of ball a pitcher throws, whether a batter lets a pitch go by or swings, whether a runner starts or not, whether a manager and coaches are packing some surprises and so on, and to talk about the prediction with other spectators or viewers.
The present invention has been devised in view of the above, and an object of the present invention therefore mainly resides in providing a video game for predicting results of sports, which can be played while a user of the video game is watching an actual sports game.
In order to attain the above object, a game apparatus for predicting results of sports according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises: storing means for storing as data a plurality of factors changing and/or being generated and disappearing in accordance with a change in the situations of a game for a sports game that has actually been performed in the past; prediction inputting means (also referred to herein as xe2x80x9cprospect inputting meansxe2x80x9d) for inputting a video game player""s prediction of how a particular factor, hereinafter xe2x80x9cprediction subject factor,xe2x80x9d changes and/or is generated and disappears (a result) for at least one factor out of the plurality of factors under the situations specified by the plurality of factors; prediction preparing means (also referred to herein as xe2x80x9cprospect preparing meansxe2x80x9d)for preparing a data-based prediction (for example, a computer-generated prediction) about the prediction subject factor; and determining means for receiving inputs including the video game player""s prediction, the data-based prediction and result of the prediction subject factor, and for determining whether it is right or wrong for each of the predictions by comparing each of the predictions with the results.
In a game apparatus for predicting results of sports according to the first aspect of the present invention, a video game player makes a prediction on how a prediction subject factor changes and/or is generated and disappears under specific situations of a game indicated by a plurality of factors that change and/or are generated and disappear. The video game player""s prediction is input via the prediction inputting means. On the other hand, a plurality of factors are stored as data in the storing means and the prediction preparing means prepares a data-based prediction about a result of the prediction subject factor based on the stored data. The determining means determines whether the prediction is right or wrong by comparing each prediction with the results of the prediction subject factor.
If a game apparatus is a computer, the storing means can consist of a main memory (RAM) storing data read out from an auxiliary memory of the computer, an auxiliary memory such as a hard disc, a CD-ROM, a magneto optical disc, a floppy disc and a ROM card, or the storing means may be comprised of a database connected to the computer. The prediction inputting means can consist of an inputting apparatus such as a pointing device, e.g., a keyboard and a mouse, and the prediction preparing means and the determining means can consist of a CPU. If the storing means is a database, the prediction preparing means and the determining means can consist of a host computer that is connected to the database via a communications network such as the internet, personal computer communication and a LAN, or of a host computer that is connected to the database not via a communications network, and the prediction inputting means can consist of a computer terminal that is connected to the host computer and via a communications network. If a game apparatus is a computer game machine for personal use, the storing means consists of a RAM, a CD-ROM or a ROM cassette, the prediction inputting means consists of a controller, and the prediction preparing means and the determining means consist of a CPU. It is also possible to use the telephone as the prediction inputting means and input a prediction in a host computer via a telephone communication network.
If a game apparatus is a computer, the computer executes each function of the above-mentioned storing means, prediction inputting means, prediction preparing means and the determining means with computer programs loaded therein. The programs are read by the computer via a storing medium such as a magneto optical disc, a ROM cassette, a floppy disc, a ROM disc, and a CD-ROM, or via a transmitting medium such as the internet and personal computer communication. However, a part of the above mentioned each function might be performed by an OS or a BIOS installed in the computer in advance, or an external computer such as a host computer connected via a communications network might alternatively execute a part of the functions.
Any sport can be played in the present invention, but one that progresses intermittently by elaborating tactics is more suitable than one requiring an instantaneous decision. Typically, baseball and American football are most suitable. In the case of soccer, the present invention is not suitable for usual soccer plays where the decision made is instantaneous and the motion is consecutive, but it can be applied to a part of plays such as a penalty kick. In the case of baseball, factors stored in the storing means are such as teams, scores, counts (S, O, B), whether bases are empty or runners are on bases, stolen base percentage of specific runners, percentage of preventing base steals by specific catchers, win-loss records data regarding specific pitchers and batters, respective percentages of tactics for determining motions of batters and runners such as base steals, bunts, bunt-and-runs, hit-and-runs and ball waiting instructions for each team, each batter and each runner under a certain situation, and types and courses of balls thrown by specific pitchers, among which a prediction subject factor is thought to be a type of ball of the next pitch of a pitcher and tactics of a team at bat. For example, assume a situation in which a team takes the lead by three to two in the bottom of the ninth inning, the count is one out, one ball and one strike, a fast runner is on first base, the pitcher is a right-hander and the ace stopper, and a batter is a left-handed long ball hitter. In this situation, a prediction is made on whether the pitch will be a straight ball or a fork ball, where the pitcher will throw the ball, and what tactic the team at the bat will select: a base steal, a bunt, a hit-and-run, to give the batter latitude, etc.
In the case of American football, factors include the teams that are playing, whether the game is at home or away, the score, time left, position of ball on the field, the number of downs and yards left for gaining first down, the performance of each player, such as the quarterback and a running back, each team""s respective percentages of use of particular tactics, and so on, and prediction subject factors are the tactics that will be used next: for example, run or pass, what course a running back will run, whether a pass will be short or long, to whom a pass will be thrown, and so on.
Factors varying due to the circumstance of a sports game and describing the situations of a sports game, that is, in the case of baseball, teams, scores, counts (S, O, B), whether the bases are empty or runners are on base, who is the pitcher, who is the batter and so on, are set by a video game player himself/herself if a game apparatus consists of one computer. If a computer terminal and a host computer are connected via a communications network, the factors are input to the host computer, data are transmitted via the communications network, and a specific situation is displayed on a display device of the computer terminal as text or as graphics. If a bitcast broadcast or a live broadcast showing images of a sports contest via a communications network such as the internet, the factors are not necessarily transmitted as data. However, the data are necessary in preparing a data-based prediction by the prediction preparing means. Further, the factors include those which can be expressed as figures (scores, counts, etc.), those which are objective (teams, pitchers, batters, etc.) and those which are bound to be subjective to some extent (types and courses of balls, tactics, etc.).
The simplest way to enter a prediction is to input it using a GUI screen. For example, an input operation is performed in the following manner: the predicted course of the next pitch is input by clicking with a mouse on any of nine divisions of a rectangular strike zone displayed on a display (outside of the divisions if the prediction is ball), a type of pitch is input by clicking on, for example, a leftward arrow icon for a curve ball of a right-handed pitcher, and a downward arrow icon for a fork ball, or a type of pitch is input by clicking on icons indicating the types of pitch (fastball, curve, change-up, slider, fork and so on).
A data-based prediction by the prediction preparing means, for example, for the next pitch, is generated based on recorded data of past interactions between a specific pitcher and a specific batter. That is, data-based prediction is performed on the premise that, if specific situations or similar situations took place in the past, it is highly possible that a type and a course of pitch actually thrown then is selected again. More concretely, a data-based prediction is generated in accordance with the following procedures:
(1) specifying a situation of a sports game: the teams, the score, the count (S, B, O), whether the bases are empty or runners are on base, the specific pitcher and the specific batter;
(2) retrieving from the storing means a type and a course of the next pitch in the past situation specified in (1), calculating a percentage of the same type and course of the pitch, and if the calculation result is equal to or greater than a given percentage, it is regarded as a data-based prediction;
(3) if (2) is less than the given percentage, calculating a percentage of a type and a course of pitch by the specific pitcher in the past at batters who are similarly left-handed or right-handed and belong to the same team as the specific batter and, if the calculation result is equal to or greater than a given percentage, it is regarded as a data-based prediction;
(4) if (3) is less than the given percentage, calculating percentages of types and courses of pitches by the specific pitcher in the past to all the batters belonging to the same team as does the specific batter and, if the calculation result for a particular type and course of pitch is equal to or greater than a given percentage or more, it is regarded as data-based prediction; and
(5) if (4) is less than the given percentage, calculating a percentage of a type and a course of pitch by the specific pitcher in the past to all the batters on all the teams and regarding a type and a course of pitch with the highest percentage as a data-based prediction. Note that xe2x80x9ca given percentagexe2x80x9d in each process is not necessarily the same.
The result of the prediction subject factor is input by, for example, the video game player himself. Taking as an example the above-mentioned next pitch in baseball, a type and a course of pitch actually thrown by a pitcher are input. The actual result is compared with the video game player""s prediction and with the data-based prediction, and it is determined whether the predictions are right or wrong. Then the factors that have varied in accordance with change in the prediction subject factors, i.e., the settings of counts and scores are updated. This readies the video game for the next prediction. If a host computer is utilized, the result of the prediction subject factor is input by a result inputting means connected to the host computer. The result inputting means may be an inputting means to the host computer such as a keyboard and a mouse and, if an operator is in a place where the sports game is held in order to make a precise input, the result inputting means may be a computer terminal connected to the host computer via a communications network. In addition, accumulated data of a database may be updated by the input.
This video game is mainly played in parallel with an actual sports contest (although it is also possible to play the video game while replaying on a VCR a video a recorded program of sports game in the past). Therefore, the video game player must be situated in an environment where he is able to know the progress of the sports contest, that is, must be in the place holding the sports contest, or must view or listen to a live broadcast on a television or a radio. If computer terminals are utilized, the present invention may further include live broadcasting means for broadcasting live by transmitting the progress of an actual sports game as text, sound and/or image information to each computer terminal via a communications network or a broadcasting network. Communications networks include the internet, personal computer communication and the like, and images, texts and data broadcasting and so on by bitcast on ground-based broadcasting and satellite broadcasting and the like are applied as broadcasting networks.
The determining means determines whether the predictions are right or wrong by comparing the actual results with the video game player""s prediction and with the data-based prediction. For example, if the next pitch is predicted, the determining means determines that the type and course of the pitch are both predicted correctly, that one of them is predicted correctly, or that neither of them is predicted correctly, and so on. If neither is predicted correctly, whether the predictions are close to the correct answer or not is also taken into consideration. If the number of video game players is one, victory or defeat is determined based on which of the video game player""s prediction and the data-based prediction is superior. The predictions may be made about more than one factor. For example, the video game player""s predictions and the data-based predictions since the start of the video game are counted up, and victory or defeat of a game player is determined based on the difference in number of correct predictions between the video game player""s predictions and the data-based predictions. If a host computer and a computer terminal are used, a plurality of computer terminals may be connected to present a plurality of the video game players. In this case, victory or defeat and a ranking may be determined between the players or a prize may be given to every player who achieves a certain level of performance. In such a case, a data-based prediction may be displayed on a display of a computer terminal before the players input their own predictions and may only be used to serve as a reference for the video game player""s predictions. Similarly, predictions of commentators and professionals also can be displayed as references on a display of a computer terminal.